Tuesday, April 01, 2014

Who Let the Macho Out?

Every Mayor has advisers. They might be official ones, or friends, or family. Some are experienced in government. Others have no experience at all and they all render their opinions from what they think is best for the Mayor and City. (Well, and maybe themselves.)

Right now Mayor Berry is up to his neck in real world problems. The region's economy, of which the city is the driver, is in the crapper. And now he is getting national attention in the media for the problems in the Police Department.

In the last few days he has received advice that he acted on that was probably not the best thing in the interest of the city. Why did he needlessly deploy the dressed up riot police? Certainly he gave the crowd a reason to escalate. Could not the police have been held out of sight until something really called for their presence. In fairness, maybe something was occurring that we don't know about. But probably what happened was he listened to bad advice from someone who wanted to let the 'macho' out. Berry probably should have thought a little harder and sought out someone's advice other than the incompetent police chief he hired at the behest of the republican Governor and her neocon advisers. That chief has never led a police force before and it is showing.

Berry is wanting to do the right thing at this juncture of events. But he needs to call on some experienced folks from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, or some such organization, to come in and help sift through the advice he is being given. It couldn't hurt.

And it couldn't hurt if the protestors were a little more organized too. They were not in control of their own demonstration. They could use a little advice too.

7 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Rob Perry let the "macho" out and Berry went along with it. Rob Perry is the person who is running the City and especially APD into the ground. Rob Perry is a political thug and confident of Darren White. Rob Perry was having difficult time making a living as an attorney while having an office with Paul Kennedy. Perry and White became close personal friends when they were cabinet secretaries for Gary Johnson. When Berry got elected the first time, Darren White got Rob Perry the City Attorney job and Perry and White squeezed David Campbell out as CAO so Perry could become CAO.

Perry thinks he is some sort of law enforcement expert because he was Secretary of the Department of Corrections. Perry has a reputation of being very heavy handed with City rank and file and has a short fuse when things do not go his way. Rob Perry is known to be a very aggressive, vindictive hot head. He likes to get in the face of private citizens who are protesting APD during City Council meetings and this was documented moths ago when he intentionally stepped in front of citizens video camera to obstruct a view. Perry also likes to bully reporters the way he did during a press conference before White resigned in disgrace. The news reporters accept Perry's bullying fearing Perry will cut them off from access to City Hall and the Mayor.

During the last few press conferences about the APD protests and the shooting of Boyed, Rob Perry was in the room glaring at reporters and prompting RJ Berry. This from a Mayor who claims to be running a transparent government.

Berry for some reason feels he needs to have a hatchet man like Perry, and Perry served him well for 4 years to the point he gave Perry a $35,000 raise. Perry was the reason Eden was appointed APD Chief even after Perry spent $25,000 for a national search. With Eden's appointment, politics above and before public safety is the norm.

Things are only going to get worse for APD thanks in large part to Rob Perry.

Mayor Berry is failing at his elected leadership position for the largest city in New Mexico. Described by the Journal as “low-key”, the Mayor has often shunned the media during his term as mayor, and was gone for eight days in March only to return to rioters and protests over the killing of a homeless man. National media has focused on Albuquerque’s “shoot first” police force, and the lack of credibility and ability in fixing the problems.

Madeleine Carey, Sept. 27, 2013, described Albuquerque “. . . . is a place where we struggle with drug epidemics, extreme drought, hunger, drunk driving, gun violence (New Mexico’s gun-death rate is 40% higher than the national average), and a corrupt police force. Nearly 20% of the population lives below the poverty line, and the crime rate is 53% higher than the national average. Albuquerque is a city plagued by mediocrity — a drying river, a losing football team (the University of New Mexico Lobos), a dearth of ambition.”

Furthermore, Forbes Lists, which ranks the largest US cities on a number of economic indicators, ranked Albuquerque as follows:

#135 Best Places for Business and Careers#66 in Cost of Doing Business#170 in Job Growth#80 in Education

With rankings like these, it would be no surprise if Tesla decided on another location to locate its battery production plant. We are truly business unfriendly.

For sure, Mayor Berry’s legacy won’t be much to admire when he’s gone. A “lack of leadership” is too kind to the Berry Administration where leadership of any kind just doesn’t exist.

Of critical concern is that Albuquerque and New Mexico are heavily dependent on federal spending. Sequestration cuts could severely damage the state’s economy if they go through. A more diverse economic base is vitally needed and soon. This won’t be brought about by inept incumbents.

Realizing that this city is on the verge of a major disaster, I thought it time to analyze what makes a good leader. You can use this information to determine for yourself if the shoe fits for either Berry or Martinez.

A small handful of must-have qualities always rise to the surface: empathy, judgment, self-awareness, adaptability, integrity, passion, courage and resilience. Leaders that possess these core attributes -- or underlying drivers of success -- have a remarkably higher probability of performing well, regardless of what context they are thrown into. Interestingly these same qualities matter outside of the corner office -- in politics, sports, entertainment and the military.

Leadership Judgment: The ability to quickly and efficiently cut through this clutter, separate the wheat from the chaff and zero in on what's most important is at the heart of possessing business judgment. That means not to wait for the DOJ to tell you what to do. You both act like you are the child and they are your parents by your ridiculous responses.

Empathy: Connecting with a multitude of diverse, demanding, and sometimes unpredictable constituencies is an inescapable reality of today's world. And you’d better be prepared because the extreme right and left are getting riled up, not to mention those of us in the middle.

Self-awareness: the ability to really understand and get in touch with how you think and feel. If you aren’t aware that you are completely naked and we see who you are and what you are doing, you have a lot of work to do in this department. It’s obvious you aren’t truthful with the citizens, but you need to ask yourself if you even know what truth is. You have to be truthful with yourself before you can be truthful with others.

Adaptability: One of the common most derailers of otherwise talented and successful executives is the fact that they've become set in their ways; they think they know everything and they've seen it all before. Essentially, this boils down to a lack of self-awareness, myopia and perhaps even delusion about one's own value to the organization. Organizations - and leaders - must be able and willing to change direction if and when required. Leadership, at best, is forward looking but fully aware of the lessons of past performance. One should appreciate history, but not be shackled by it. A good leader knows there are situations, particularly when the external context has significantly changed, when it is necessary to adapt. Digging in ones heels and "standing the ground" is a dangerous, often fatal flaw in these situations. MARTINEZ AND BERRY, TAKE HEED TO THE LAST SENTENCE!

Integrity: Will the leader choose the right path when temptation beckons? To gauge new leaders ask: Can they understand how their actions and what they say (or even imply) could potentially impact others inside and outside the organization? A CEO's, Mayor or police chief's actions have a massive trickle-down effect on the entire culture of the organization. Acting appropriately sets the ground rules and accepted norms and behaviors. Remove integrity and the whole house of cards will eventually come tumbling down no matter how smart, empathetic and emotionally aware a leader may be. In that sense, integrity is the single most important leadership quality. MARTINEZ AND BERRY AND EDEN, TAKE HEED TO THE LAST TWO SENTENCES!

Passion, courage and resilience: Leadership is not for the faint of heart. The best leaders surround themselves with senior executives willing to take a contrarian view, supported by compelling evidence, AND LISTEN TO THOSE WHO DISAGREE WITH YOU. Leaders have to make tough choices (judgment).

The mess APD and Albuquerque are in begin and end with Richard Berry and Ray Schultz.

Those two individuals have caused the current meltdown. Now Schultz sits with a 6 figure pension and a 6 figure kickback job from Taser (same company he made sure the city signed a $2,000,000 contract with 8 weeks before he retired). And Berry, he lies and says he is in Brazil when he is actually on Spring Break God knows where.

About Me

Jim Baca has a strong record of visionary service to New Mexico. He retired as the State of New Mexico's Natural Resource Trustee 1n 2010. He has served as Mayor of the City of Albuquerque, as well as two prior terms as New Mexico’s elected State Land Commissioner. He served as the Director of the National Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior in the first Clinton Administration. Jim Baca also serves on the Boards of numerous non profit organizations including The Wilderness Society and the Wyss Foundation and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
Baca has run a successful public affairs consulting practice when not serving in public office. He spends his retirement playing golf, attending board meetings, and generally doing what ever he wants to do.